“It might be,” Liam replied vaguely. He’d told her the truth but he wasn’t as interested in giving Isabelle moral support as he was in seeing how Jacquelyn moved in his world. “It will be Saturday evening. Isabelle will probably be more than happy to help you prepare.”
“I’ll ask her to make sure of that if it’s all the same to you,” she said, annoyed at the way he assumed people would fall into line.
“Is that your way of agreeing to attend?” Liam asked with a mischievous grin. He’d hit her where she was vulnerable and if Izzy wanted support then Jackie would be there. She just wished she knew how to feel about her old friend. It was so hard knowing what to do with Izzy now that they’d both slept with the same man and would most likely sleep with him again. Their entire situation was too complex for her taste but she wasn’t one to run from challenges.
“Sure, why not? I’ll probably have all the paperwork drawn up by then so you can take time out of your nightlife to write your signature a few times.” There. Everything was professional again, just as she preferred it. Jackie could deal with this. Liam O’Connor absolutely did not hold some kind of supernatural appeal for her. It was all in her head.
“Good, that’s settled. And if you can, wear something short. I miss seeing your legs.” He brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear, deliberately brushing his fingertips against the pulse in her neck. Jackie swallowed hard. Maybe this thing with Liam wasn’t exactly as simple as she wanted to believe it was. The big reason she wasn’t sleeping with him was because she’d grown increasingly concerned that if she started, who was to say she would ever want to stop?
Chapter Twelve
JACKIE WAS IN A good mood Saturday night, even after Izzy had put her through a series of female rituals involving manicures and facials. Her friend in the media had more than fulfilled her promise. In between stories of beautiful young girls found with their throat nearly clawed out, Hannah had squeezed in an article on the Crawley family. The beautiful part of it all was that the journalist she’d assigned to the story had managed to get an interview with Sarah. Jackie didn’t know how she’d gotten her alone long enough for that but if she ever met the sympathetic blonde reporter she’d have to hug her. The Crawleys were in serious trouble. After Hannah’s news site had come out with the story, other tabloids had picked it up. It was only a matter of time until it spread to the more serious newspapers; papers that business associates of Gregory’s father would read.
At the moment, Jackie’s optimism was only slightly dimmed by Izzy’s avoidance of any topic involving Liam or other donors. To her shame, Jackie had been too busy and awkward to notice that one of her dearest friends was putting on a happy face. Now that they were waiting in the lobby of Izzy’s apartment building, since she claimed that her bathroom was better for primping than Jackie’s, she no longer had make-up and clothes to distract her. Jackie knew what everyone saw when they looked at Izzy. They saw beautiful, glamorous and young. It bothered her to think that Liam had seen beyond that just as easily as Jackie usually did. Well, maybe bothered wasn’t the right word. Perturbed? Distressed?
“You have a really strange look on your face,” Izzy noted, staring at her friend’s expression. “What are you thinking about?”
“I was thinking that you haven’t mentioned any of your new work associates,” Jackie said. Work associates was probably a more polite way of saying competing donors. Izzy fidgeted. The move didn’t fit with her current image. She’d pulled her hair partially up but the clip allowed long ropes of curls to hang down her back. Her dress was the color of dark gold. It was backless but not much cleavage was exposed in the front. The hem brushed around Izzy’s heels so that everyone could admire her shoes. Jackie liked them but thought they could be used as instruments as torture. There were only two delicate straps to keep the shoe on Izzy’s foot and the stiletto heel nearly brought her up to Jackie’s height. She wore pretty gold dangling earrings but no necklace. That probably had to do a vampire’s preference for full access. All in all, Izzy appeared collected and elegant. Appearances weren’t everything. “Talk to me, Izzy. I don’t want us to only have certain safe topics of conversation. That’s never been our style.”
“I freaked out,” Izzy confessed. “You’re so lucky that you don’t have to hang out with these women on a regular basis. Our lives are just this constant struggle for attention and some of them take it more seriously than others.”
“Then I was with Liam and you had another rival,” Jackie realized. “I get why you felt that way. I’ve been feeling weird about the situation, too. It’s one of those strange relationship taboos that you never think you’ll fall into but when you do you don’t have a clue how to deal with it. But you’re still my friend. I won’t give you up for the sake of a little sex. Izzy, you should have known better.” She nodded.
“I know it was stupid, I just… Wait a minute. Did you just call him Liam?” Jackie blinked. Oh, shit.
“No. Of course I didn’t.”
“You did,” Izzy said. “You’re starting to like him as a person, aren’t you?”
“It’s impossible to like him as a person since he’s a vampire,” Jackie said, unwilling to admit that Izzy was right.
“Now what would you say in response to something like that? Oh, I know. That’s such bullshit.” Izzy was surprised to feel almost gleeful at the idea of Liam and Jackie being friends. It put Jackie in a completely different category than donor and it would drive the other girls insane. Still, she thought she should feel threatened by this development. Didn’t it put more space between her and Liam? Then again it would be tough to actually put more space between her and a man who hadn’t touched her for anything but feeding since he’d slept with her best friend.
“Look, it was a tiny slip of the tongue. It won’t happen again.” Jackie had gotten into the habit of calling him Liam in her head. She needed to stop that. “O’Connor and I have a purely professional relationship.” Now that was bullshit. “You’re avoiding the question. What’s with you and the new donors?”
“They’re younger and meaner,” Izzy mumbled. “Isn’t that enough?”
“Now, now, don’t knock the young. You’re nearly ten years younger than me, you know.” Nine, actually. Jackie had been ten years old before Izzy was even a twinkle in her parents’ eyes. “But meaner… I think I can sympathize there. I put up with mean on a constant basis. They tend to be rich and think they can ride horses without much instruction.”
“Most of the friends I made left to get married or go back to school and start their own lives. Now all these strangers have taken their place and they’re so… Look, I’m all for body positivity but I draw the line at swimming naked in a pool when more people than Liam are watching.” Jackie’s fingers tensed then slowly began to curl into fists. Liam had girls prancing about his place like it was the damn garden of Eden. So what? Wasn’t any of her concern, was it? No, not at all. She forced herself to relax and gently put an arm around Izzy.
“Don’t worry. I guarantee that you’re going to have a good time tonight.”
“I think you’re right,” she agreed after a moment. Izzy grinned. “The thought of you meeting those girls is actually pretty funny. Liam must be crazy to let you loose around them.” Jackie saw a limo pull up to the front of the building and sighed.
“Our time has come.” She resolutely avoided looking at herself as the two of them walked towards the sleek black limo. Jackie didn’t want to think about what she was wearing. She felt vaguely embarrassed about it although that was absurd. No matter how many years passed, clothes that drew attention to her body made her uncomfortable. For a dangerous moment she nearly took a quick dive into memory lane. Instead she sunk her teeth into the side of her mouth, quickly snapping her thoughts back to the present. “Now, tell me everything I should expect,” Jackie said, turning to her vampire world tour guide. Izzy grinned and began to explain all about the territorial instinct, speaking when you
were spoken to and the delicacy of vampire hearing.
*
Jack Tanner couldn’t believe he’d let Liam talk him into this. The one hundred seventy-six year old vampire stood awkwardly near a wall in one of his best friend’s massive entertaining rooms and sipped from his glass of A positive. Several of Liam’s donors had tried to tempt him but he’d sworn off the live stuff thanks to his goal as a doctor not to do any actual harm to his patients. However, after the week he’d had some fresh blood was starting to sound good. Maybe that was why he’d come to this party. He needed a distraction from the stress of being the only vampire doctor on the west coast. Any time a donor had a tiny feeling of discomfort someone called on him. It strained his patience.
“You’re brooding,” Liam complained as he came to a halt by his friend’s side. The two of them had met shortly after Liam became head of the LA vampire contingent. With Jack’s down to earth sensibilities and Liam’s extravagance, the two were bound to grate on each other’s nerves yet somehow they’d become friends. It was a mystery that baffled even them. “Didn’t I mention the very strict anti-brooding law?”
“I wasn’t brooding. I was contemplating,” Jack said.
“You were brooding, Mr. Wallflower. You’re taking the doctor business too seriously again. Find yourself a pretty girl and distract yourself for the evening.” Jack rolled his eyes.
“One of these days, a woman will walk through that door that you can’t dismiss as easily as all the others. When that day comes, expect gloating.” He took a deep gulp of his blood. “Besides, I get to brood when baby vamps come to me with their donors several hours dead hoping I can do something to bring them back. Are we anywhere with catching this guy, Liam? The body count is out of hand.”
“It’s difficult to investigate and cover our ass at the same time. I have people on it but so far all the information we have about who’s doing this is the stench of something decaying at the crime scenes. Not to mention the bastard’s sadistic methods of killing people.” Liam wasn’t through talking. No, he had a lot of things he could say about the surge of rogue vampire activity. However when he smelled coconut and horses, he simply went silent. He turned towards the open doorway. Jack stared at his friend with confusion then followed his gaze. He recognized the woman in gold. Liam had called him to tend to a sprained ankle she’d had some eight months ago. The other woman was a mystery. She was probably Liam’s height although that was with low heels. The dark blue material of her dress shimmered as she moved, short sleeves hugging her shoulders that were bare except for those scraps of cloth. It glided over the modest swell of her breasts, cinched in at her waist and clung to her thighs. The slit in the skirt occasionally revealed her legs and Jack acknowledged that she didn’t need to be ashamed of showing them off. Her brown, gold-streaked hair was bound back with sparkling clips and her whiskey eyes shone bright thanks to whatever eye shadow she’d used.
He knew she couldn’t one of Liam’s. She wasn’t really to his friend’s taste. Whoever she was, her appearance was more striking than pleasing and Liam had always liked being pleased. Jack glanced at his friend, whose face had gone completely blank. It didn’t take long for Jack to connect the dots. He chuckled “Should I start gloating now or later?” The older vampire blinked then glanced at Jack, clearly distracted.
“What are you talking about?” Then he blinked again as he remembered. “No. No, it’s not like that. She and I have a very casual relationship.”
“Really? Because you look like a fledgling on the verge of Fascination,” Jack said, the easy smile widening into a grin. He was suddenly grateful for his decision to come to this party. It had just become extremely entertaining.
Jackie wished she’d faked a cold. “Holy crap, how big is this place?” When the limo had rolled up to a huge, elaborate mansion in Beverly Hills, it hadn’t really surprised her. Liam - she grit her teeth when she accidentally thought his name – O’Connor did things in a big way. After walking past several large rooms and through a winding corridor, her patience for it had decreased. Her feet were beginning to complain about the shoes Izzy had picked for her and she hadn’t even been standing that long.
“He likes a lot of room,” Izzy told her, smiling at the way Jackie assessed her surroundings without being overwhelmed. The first time she’d been to one of these parties she’d nearly had a heart attack. The floors were black marble, polished to a high shine. A crystal chandelier dangled from the ceiling where an exquisite mural of Hades kidnapping Persephone had been painted years ago. The chandelier was the only source of light. Vampires moved easily through the shadowy parts of the room while donors either mingled or entertained themselves at the center of the floor where the most light fell. What she guessed was Beethoven poured from the speakers strategically placed around the room. “So what do you think?”
“Sort of like an Anne Rice novel but less unnerving,” Jackie decided. She bristled slightly at Izzy’s surprised expression. “What? I do occasionally read Sofie’s books. I know who Anne Rice is.”
“Sorry, I just have trouble thinking of you reading a book that doesn’t involve incompetent bounty hunters and their complicated love lives,” Izzy said.
“Stephanie is not incompetent. She’s just a little unconventional,” Jackie said. It was good to fall into an old fun argument with Izzy. She was very grateful they’d managed to clear the air and pick up where they’d left off. “Besides, there’s nothing wrong with being torn between two gorgeous men.” Izzy glanced around Jackie’s head and smiled.
“Speaking of two gorgeous men,” she murmured. Jackie glanced over her shoulder then fought the urge to let out a low whistle. No matter how quiet she made it, every vampire in the area would probably hear. O’Connor and a black man were walking towards them. Whoever he was, he at least had fantastic good looks going for him. That point wasn’t opinion but empirical fact. He was gorgeous. His dark brown hair curled at the ends and framed his smooth, slightly rugged face. He had a straight nose and a soft, attractive mouth. Hazel eyes stared straight back at her and she lifted a brow. Typically she didn’t mind a tall, handsome man who looked a little wild even in a civilized black suit jacket and slacks staring at her with interest but times had changed. For all she knew, this guy was a vampire and he was thinking that she’d make a good blood donor.
Then, of course, there was O’Connor. He looked completely in his element in the crowd of humans and vampires. The smoke-colored silk of his shirt suited him, as did his fitted black pants. She met his eyes and suddenly felt as if her world had tilted to the side. The intensity there was foreign to her. He’d never looked at her like that, like she was the only person in the room that mattered. “Hello, Liam,” Izzy said with a friendly smile on her lips. The vampire snapped out of whatever mood he’d fallen into and that careless smile graced his face.
“Isabelle, lovely as always.” He kissed her cheek. Jackie crushed the tiny voice in her head that was unhappy about the show of affection. His eyes returned to her. “I see wearing something short was out of the question.”
“It’s the beginning of winter, Mr. O’Connor. Wearing short dresses when it’s cold out is a touch inappropriate.” She glanced at the unofficial dance floor where a group of donors had gathered. Every one of them was in a short dress. “Exhibit A,” Jackie muttered. The man beside O’Connor let out a soft chuckle.
“Jack, this is Jacquelyn Chase. Jacquelyn, this is Jack Tanner.” Jackie had accepted his hand when the name clicked in her memory.
“Wait a minute,” she murmured. Then her eyes sharpened as she glared at Liam. “So you didn’t make up a name when you were lying to me.” He didn’t have the grace to look ashamed. He merely smiled blandly at her while Jack looked between the two of them with confusion.
“There’s a story here I’m missing. Could someone fill me in?”
Izzy recognized a perfect opportunity and grabbed it with both hands. “You’re looking a little low on blood the
re, Mr. Tanner. How about I get you a refill and tell you all about how these two met and the ensuing chaos?” Jackie opened her mouth to protest but Jack wasn’t about to pass up the chance to find out what all his friend had been up to recently. Liam liked to talk. The fact that he hadn’t talked about Jacquelyn made him think something important was going on besides the recent increase in vampire media activity.
“Good idea. You two enjoy yourselves.” Jack took Izzy’s arm and bolted. Jackie glared after the two deserters. When she looked back at O’Connor he was blatantly invading her personal bubble. She tried to back up but he’d wrapped his fingers around her wrist.
“I got your fax. Everything’s in order but I’d like to discuss a few things with you about the purchase later this evening,” he told her softly. To anyone else they probably looked like a couple exchanging endearments. After all they were standing in the shadows away from the crowd beside a window with a gorgeous view of Los Angeles. With two other people it might have been very romantic.
“I’m free now,” she said. Jackie would actually like to talk about business. She wasn’t sure how to socialize with vampires since her exposure had been limited. It wasn’t likely that she’d get on with the donors so the vampires were her only choice. However, Jack had seemed like a pretty normal guy from the two seconds of conversation she’d had with him. Maybe vampires were like regular people who made a habit of drinking blood. There were stranger things.
“I’m not. I do have some duties as a host.” Liam had fed tonight but that didn’t make her bare neck any less inviting. He was tempted to spirit her away. Unfortunately he’d made a very good point. He had people he needed to update about recent events and that meant holding off on anything involving the bedroom. At least he’d be able to observe Jacquelyn, which had been the entire point of this little experiment. She did well enough in her own territory but how would she fare in his?
“Then go do them,” she replied with a careless shrug of her shoulders. “I’ll go see how Izzy’s story is progressing.” Jacquelyn had managed to very neatly collect herself even with his skin on hers. Liam fought the urge to laugh. She was experimenting with tactics apparently, trying to see which one would successfully repel him. This distance trick wasn’t going to work well for one reason. He knew she wanted him. With that in mind, Liam lowered his mouth to her neck and gently placed a kiss over her fluttering pulse.
Animal Instinct Page 11